The work, which was commissioned directly by the king in 1818-19 and placed in the Second Anteroom of the Royal Apartment, portrays him after his resettlement on the throne of Naples, at the end of the decade of French domination (1805-1815), when, on the occasion of the Bourbon Restoration, Ferdinand changed his title from Ferdinando IV king of Naples to Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies.

The king is depicted standing next to the throne and with his right hand points to the basilica of San Francesco di Paola, which he had built, in the Largo di Palazzo, as an ex votov to the Calabrian saint for having regained the kingdom. He wears the habit of a Knight of the Order of San Gennaro, founded by Charles of Bourbon on 3 July 1738, on the occasion of his wedding with Maria Amalia of Saxony. After a long reign, which began in 1759 at the age of eight, on his death in 1825 Ferdinand I was buried in Santa Chiara with the habit of the Order of San Gennaro.